Magnum T.A. vs. Tully Blanchard (NWA 11/28/85)

[SammyJ_D]

Discuss here

[BillThompson]

Will definitely be on my list. A grimy, gritty, dirty brawl that is full of enough hate to power an entire city for ages. Lots of little touches, and a representation of the heel/face dynamic that is the icing on the cake.

[KarlPG]

This has everything I could ever want from a match. Tells a great story, both men put it all on the line, very aggressive and a truly satisfying conclusion, with the bad guy getting his comeuppance. Perfect.

[Jeff Hawkins]

The amount of heat the promos had was ungodly.

This is a fight made to look like a wrestling match. It comes off that way too as it's not a long drawn out heavily choreographed dance.

Made even better by the fact that Tully never says the words I Quit.

[Francis Adu]

Controversially, I've never really been moved by this match. I don't know if it's poor video quality or me having the emotions of a snowman, but I never really saw the visceral grittiness from this brawl that others did. Not say it doesn't look like a fight, of course, but it never feels like a transcendent fight. It is an ideal use of the steel cage tho.

[Rich Kraetsch]

Probably a no-brainer for my list. Just rewatched today and fittingly did so in the same week as an equally brutal Undertaker/Lesnar Hell in a Cell. There are a lot of similarities between the two with a shocking level of brutality. This one in particular features almost no actual "Wrestling" as we know it. It's guys literally ripping at one another with nothing off limits: pulling of eyes, ripping of wounds on arms, just crazy crazy stuff with a super cool ending. This is pro wrestling cage match brawl 101.

[Buzz Sawyer]

I like the match, but I thought it fell a bit flat.

[mlev76]

I started watching Crockett shortly after this match took place, but remember seeing pictures of the ending in the Apter mags. Didn't actually see it in full until almost 20 years later and it lived up to the imagined violence that my 9 year old mind believed it to be. Have watched it numerous times since including late last year and it is easily my favorite Crockett match of all time. The postscript of Magnum and Tully essentially raising a family together even adds something to it as I imagine it's discussed on holidays every year.